Training for what we hope never happens

Once scheduled to be euthanized, rescue dog now saving lives

Hurricane Harvey has devastated Texas, and people still need all the help they can get right now. Fortunately help keeps coming in all forms — including the four-legged kind.

One of those volunteers is Rocket, a border collie mix. He’s one of fourteen search dogs that arrived in Texas to help with search and rescue. And for those who are trapped or hurt, they can be assured this furry rescuer will never give up. That’s because there was a time when Rocket was almost given up on.

He was deemed unadoptable because he had too much energy,and was one day away from being euthanized. Rocket was even given a final chance to become a search and rescue dog by the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, but he failed the test.

But Andrea Bergquist, a volunteer with the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation who gave him the test, saw something special in Rocket. She, along with her husband, adopted and trained him. A year later Rocket passed his test.

Soon Rocket was partnered with his firefighter K-9 handler, Mike Stornetta of the Windsor Fire Protection District, and has already assisted after a plane crashed in California.

“You take an animal that some people might consider worthless… you take that animal and give that animal a job and they go from worthless to absolutely priceless,” Stornetta told FOX 2.

The energy that once made him unadoptable has turned out to be a gift, and now Rocket’s specialty is finding live victims in disasters. Given the circumstances, that skill is priceless in Texas. And like all those assisting in the wake of Harvey, Rocket will stay at it for as long as it takes.

Watch the video to see how Rocket is paying forward his second chance at life.